Adding sugar at bottling stage

[Littletinca]

Advice needed.

Ive just made my 2nd brew, from a Wilco 'Hoppy Bitter' kit.
After the main fermentation, I racking the brew off into a 2nd brew bin in an attempt to 'cold crash' the beer. I put the brew bin out in the shed where the temp was only 1 or 2 degrees ( very cold weather). I also made up a sugar syrup equivalent to 40 tsp of sugar and added this.

3 days later, I bottled it, and left it for 2 weeks at room temp. I'm now drinking it. Although its a decent brew, but, I do find it a bit sweet.
Any thoughts on adding sugar to the bottles vs adding syrup to the brew bin, or anything about what Ive described seem obviously 'wrong'

All views and opinions welcome

 

[Covrich]

Sugar will not sweeten your brew as such because your yeast should ferment it to carbonate..

Did you take a hydrometer reading after fermentation?? Whilst cold crashing can be a good thing to do don't do it too early after fermentation.. After fermentation yeast will continue to clean up by absorbing by products and such.. cold crashing too early will prevent this from happening before you bottle..

WHat was your final gravity reading?

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
After you added the sugar syrup, did you leave the FV in the cold? Once you add sugar the yeast will start to work on it and produce CO2. If it is stil in the FV it will not carbonate the beer. If the FV was still cold, this will have slowed the yeast down.
I don't add conditioning sugar until bottling day.
Is it possible that you cold crashed too early? My usual routine is a longish secondary fermentation at the same temperature as the primary. This allows the yeast to finish its work and "clean up" the beer. Cold conditioning allows the beer to clear - I like to leave mine a week or more, but a few days is all that's needed.
How "fizzy" is your finished beer?
One final point - you may be drinking the beer too early. It will need a few weeks in the bottle to mature. Put them out in the cold to help the sediment settle.
I hope I haven't been prattling on about stuff you already know.
Colin
EDIT: Covrich got his comments in faster than me: +1 for everything he wrote.

 

[Littletinca]

Cant remember the actuel SG, but I calculated the alcohol as 3.64%

 

[Littletinca]

Cant remember the actual SG, but I calculated the alcohol at 3.64%.

 

[Littletinca]

Not at all Bigcol. Thanks for your help

 

[Littletinca]

So is 'secondary fermentaion done in the bottle or in a second FV after racking off the beer from the first FV to lose all thethick sediment ?

 

[dan125]

So is 'secondary fermentaion done in the bottle or in a second FV after racking off the beer from the first FV to lose all thethick sediment ?

Hi
I'd also agree wholeheartedly with the other posts.
2ndry fermentation is a bit of a misleading name I think - all it really means is racking the beer off the sediment and leaving it alone for a while. Seeing as you're not adding any sugar at this stage there isn't a extra or second fermentation happening, your just giving the beer a chance to settle out further and the remaining yeast to continue to clean up any off flavour producing fermentation by-products.
I believe that many now just leave the beer on the yeast for an extended period, rather than risk oxidising the beer with the splashing and stirring that happens when you syphon the beer into a 2nd vessel.
Bottle conditioning is what happens in the bottle when you add sugar (I also do this at bottling time) to carbonate the beer.
:

 

[terrym]

So is 'secondary fermentaion done in the bottle or in a second FV after racking off the beer from the first FV to lose all thethick sediment ?

Like you I rack off to a second FV at when the primary has all but finished. I usually leave it the the second FV for about 5-6 days while I dry hop. There is enough yeast left in the brew to 'clean up after itself'. It does help with reducing the yeast load carried forward to your bottles/PB, I reckon by as much as 75%. I have never had any problems with 'oxidation' or things related, although I am careful not to splash the beer about when I transfer over, and of course take the usual sanitisation precautions. So its its entirely a personal choice whether you leave it or transfer over.
As I understand it 'secondary fermentation' is an extended clean up stage after the primary has finished, and in some cases can be over many weeks, and may or may not involve leaving the brew on the trub from the primary. It is not the carbonation stage.
I presume most of us bottle or whatever within two to three weeks of pitching whether we leave it in the first FV or transfer to a second FV. So our secondary fermentation will run in parallel with carbonation in bottles/PBs etc and will then extend into conditioning.

 

[Littletinca]

What is 'pitching' ( sorry, new to brewing)

 

[MyQul]

What is 'pitching' ( sorry, new to brewing)

'Pitching' is adding your yeast to your unfermented beer (wort)

 

[klaus]

I many years of brewing on and off (kits and AG) I have never bothered with transferring into another bucket, I always bottle or keg straight from the primary fermenter once it's ready, i.e. final gravity is ball park. Never bothered with "cold-crashing". I believe in keeping it simple and I can't remember a brew I couldn't drink or wouldn't offer to someone else to try.

 

[MyQul]

I many years of brewing on and off (kits and AG) I have never bothered with transferring into another bucket, I always bottle or keg straight from the primary fermenter once it's ready, i.e. final gravity is ball park. Never bothered with "cold-crashing". I believe in keeping it simple and I can't remember a brew I couldn't drink or wouldn't offer to someone else to try.

I'm the same. I've always just batched primed the primary and bottled from there (although since I've got my brew bag I had to do things a bit different) and also never cold crashed as I dont have the facilities to do this

 

[Covrich]

I have a 10L bucket in a fridge now and my 23L ones I just try and get it in a cool place for a day or two (easy in winter not so much in summer)

I think its nice if you can do it for a day or so but I think it is a little overrated to be honest in the sense that if you cannot do it, it doesn't matter and you won't be worse off for it.

 

[MyQul]

I agree with cov here. Cold crashing is really for cosmetic reasons, so you can get a nice clear pint. It wont effect the taste.
Curiously enough it seems increasingly popular for microbrewed beers not to clear their beer so you get a cloudy pint

 

[Covrich]

I agree with cov here. Cold crashing is really for cosmetic reasons, so you can get a nice clear pint. It wont effect the taste.
Curiously enough it seems increasingly popular for microbrewed beers not to clear their beer so you get a cloudy pint

Last smaller batch I crashed in the fridge still took a while to clear.. the slovenien IPA I did which just sat in a cooler conservatory for a day or so came out very clear quickly.. I think CRS and treating the water has improved that aspect more than chilling.

 

[MyQul]

Last smaller batch I crashed in the fridge still took a while to clear.. the slovenien IPA I did which just sat in a cooler conservatory for a day or so came out very clear quickly.. I think CRS and treating the water has improved that aspect more than chilling.

And of course yeast can have a big impact on how (fast) the beer clears

 

[dad_of_jon]

I'm the same. I've always just batched primed the primary and bottled from there (although since I've got my brew bag I had to do things a bit different) and also never cold crashed as I dont have the facilities to do this

Myqul, how do you mix the sugar in the primary without disturbing the yeast/trub? :hmm: